Lazy Suzy Boy by Ann Dewey.
At the premiere of choreographer Ann Dewey's new work last week, several punters wore rugs, one covered in cute teddy bear pictures. Even by the standards of the contemporary dance crowd - the arts patron tribe of individual dressers - this was eccentric.
But their rugs marked them out not
as interlopers but as savvy dance regulars: the performance location was the village hall in Leigh, where Dewey lives and where she often premieres her work, and her local aficionados know the hall can get chilly.
Leigh, an hour away from inner Auckland, is a "good test market", says Dewey. "You get an honest response." And the audience, including farmers and fishermen, are "wonderfully loose". Over the five years she's shown work here, she says local chatter "has gone from 'there's something a bit weird going on in the hall' to 'you should go and see the new show; it's really cool'."
After the Leigh test bed, Dewey's dance company Spinning Sun usually goes on to perform her works in theatres elsewhere. But this latest work, Lazy Suzy Boy, is designed to be performed only in community halls, and it is touring Warkworth this weekend, and Kaipara Flats, Kumeu and Helensville next week for incredibly low prices: $10 adults, $5 kids (thank you Auckland Council).
The low prices are part of Dewey's unofficial "don't be scared of contemporary dance" campaign. She is also taking holiday choreography workshops in each host hall, and the children then put on a curtain-raiser dance in front of their families before everyone watches Lazy Suzy Boy.
